Blizzard Announces That All WoW Players Will Be Able To Play All Races

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | August 17, 2012 5:00 am

Blizzard Announces That All WoW Players Will Be Able To Play All Races

38 Comments

Blizzard has made yet another announcement regarding the upcoming 5.0.4 patch and it seems like pretty good news for a lot of players.

With the release of the new patch, they are making all races playable — no matter what version of World of Warcraft players own. This means that even those who haven’t yet purchased Mists of Pandaria will be able to play as a pandaren.

However, the ability to do so will not kick in until MoP releases on September 25.

Whether or not players will be able to roll a monk still hasn’t been specified, but at this point we are guessing they will not.

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Chiggz

I really dont understand how this will work, but im guessing we can explore pandaria – all the dungeons/raids? lol
- http://twitter.com/Bahska Bahska
  
  No you can make a panda and do there starting island, think Goblins starting zone. After you complete the starting zone you get kicked out to Org/SW to start the level 10 quests.
  - Chiggz
    
    Ahh see now that makes sense. thanks =]
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  All Blizzard did was remove the requirement to purchase an expansion to play any of the races. It really does make sense, it’s not like different people are running different version of the game. Expansions now restrict levels, areas and classes.
JariKiv

Would have made business sense to make them available on GW2 day, but it does give a reason for people to keep playing for a bit.
http://www.facebook.com/adzaell Adam Elliott

Smart move to blunt GW2.

Still playing GW2 though mainly. New game is always good vs expansion, but we shall see in the long run what i do.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Tj-Vossos/647768691 Tj Vossos
  
  ill bd playing both, im not worrying about pre xpac patch but ill come back for launch, then ill decide what im in the mood for gw2 or MoP, Gw2 will win out most nights, but the raids look fun in MoP
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    For me raiding Tuesday through Thursday. Casual GW2 play on the weekends.
http://twitter.com/Bahska Bahska

It was clarified you can not be a monk that is still exclusive to MoP purchasers
Lediath

Does this also apply to free accounts?
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Thats what I understand. Free accounts, all races.
Josh Rosenvelt

Maybe they worried MoP won’t sell as many copies straight away as people might be spending the initial money on GW2.
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Alvino/1094406295 John Alvino

Nothing Blizz can do to make me want to come back to that 8 year old mess of a “game”
- Josh Rosenvelt
  
  To be fair it only became a mess in cata, although dumbing dow started in WOLTK at least the system was fair. Like 25 man raiding guilds still getting rewarded for the additional effort of running a larger grp.
  
  Cata implemented a unfair reward system and people not being total idiots realised this and have given the middle finger to blizz. Look at how many 25 man raiding guilds are left now. Down by 85% since WOTLK.
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    It was silly, that I would run 25 man raids on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then run a 10 man raid on Thursday, seeing the exact same content.
    
    Cata just gave you the option of running 25 man or 10 man raids, your choice.
    - Kicknpups
      
      Agree on this I left @ 4.2 when my guild had finished everything after 4 weeks and everyone had been fully geared except maybe one to two items….I was thinking about going to MOP when I heard about it but after jumping into G2(which I have to confess I was 100% skeptic about) I just can’t go back to WoW. It has opened new doors for me in all different aspects of gaming I.E crafting,raids,pvp,wvw,combat and so many more!. I wish blizzard the best of luck and I’m sure they will do well with MOP but it’s just not my cake.
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Alvino/1094406295 John Alvino
        
        That’s because the cake is a lie… and no one likes being lied to… not any more.
      - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
        
        That there is GW2 PVE content past level 30.
      - Old Ben
        
        > there is GW2 PVE content past level 30?
        
        Well, considering even the betas went up to 35, anyone who wasn’t asleep for the past four months should know the answer to that.
  - MMO_Doubter
    
    No. It became a mess in late BC, when they gave Paladins AOE tanking.
http://www.facebook.com/jason.jenkins.73 Jason Jenkins

i’ll admit to having a “blond” moment when i first read this as i thought it meant that it was races no matter what faction, as in orc for alliance players, gnomes for horde etc etc…meh blame skyrim i guess seeing as how i been playing that some lately again
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tj-Vossos/647768691 Tj Vossos

blizz have tweeted if you want to be a monk you need MoP
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Yep, it clearly states race, not class. But, I think the confusion is fully understandable.
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

Dumbest business decision ever! I will NOT! be buying MoP until I personally feel like it now. I can roll a Panda Warrior until xmas if I choose.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Your choice, if you want to keep your level 85s (if you have any level 85s) at level 85. The real question is do you allow the Pandarens distract you from working on your level 85 Warrior (again, if you have a 85 warrior.) From what I see the level 90 warriors are sweet and a good choice right now! Especially if you have blacksmithing, they are producting some kick ass weapons.
- Old Ben
  
  > I will NOT! be buying MoP until I personally feel like it now.
  
  You mean before you were under some sort of obligation?
Lediath

some s*** different toilet?
http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

They can be pandas… but they can not play monks and can not play in pandaria….
Ravenstorm

Why? Why would.. why? Does Blizz wants it to become World of Pandacraft? Will the other races soon become a unique sight? Will the panda’s take over? Orgrimmar will become Pandamar? Pandawind City? Pandaforge, The Underpanda, Pandamoon City, Pandassus, Panda Bluff, the Pandadar? … The Horror…
- http://twitter.com/Luke_Malcolm Luke Malcolm
  
  I love the creativity there, it almost reminded me of when Scooby Doo says Ronday – Runday. lmao
http://www.facebook.com/joseph.handibode Joseph Handibode

They are copying GW2 period in ability to play all races. Its a complete copy from GW2, Wow patch is at same timeframe as GW2 too.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Now that don’t make no sense. You could make a case for GW2 influencing WoW if Blizzard immediately opened up all classes to all races. But they are not doing that. They are simply solving an age old problem with let people play the races they want at the start. Baby steps, next time hopefully they will allow you to play the class you want at start.
- Old Ben
  
  GW2 doesn’t have any expansions, so how is this in any way related…? You might as well say they’re copying Rift or vanilla WoW, or any other game where you have access to all the races without the need to buy expansions.
- MMO_Doubter
  
  They would be doing better to copy the ability to match levels with higher/lower characters.
  
  This has always been a major problem with WoW. Pointless to play with anyone more than 5 levels off what you are.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

This makes perfect sense to bring in new players. One of the hassles of recruit a friend was the limitation on races. You would have that friend or family member who wanted to play a Female Blood Elf Hunter and you had to explain why you had to purchase both WoW and TBC expansion so they could level a BE Hunter from level 1.

This clearly eliminates the barrier to entry for a player that want to roll a Pandaren Hunter. They no longer need to purchasing the Battlechest, Lich King, Cata and Mist of Pandaria, just so they can try out a Pandaren Hunter.
Old Ben

First smart thing Blizzard has done to WoW in ages (well, the annual pass was also smart, but it wasn’t related to the game itself). Assuming this applies to the Starter Edition, that is. Limiting trials to the old races and starting zones was making WoW look even worse than it really is to (potential) new players.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Yep, leveling from 1-20 (free content) or 1-60 (WoW part of the Battlechest) is really good leveling content. You can run the Undead Forsaken content to level 20 and then run the Worgen content to level 20. You will see the deceit, betrayal and revenge behind the battle for Gilneas.
  - MMO_Doubter
    
    Zzzzzz.
    
    Did it. Didn’t care.

Blizzard Announces That All WoW Players Will Be Able To Play All Races

Patch 5.3 Release Date Confirmed

Patch 5.3: Purely Pandaria Profession Leveling!

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